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(No Model.)

S. J. BUZZINI.

FIRE ARM.

No. 284,815. Patented Sept. 11, 1883.

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UNrrnn STATES PATENT Grinch;

SALVATORE J. BUZZINI, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

FIRE-ARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 284,815, dated September 11, 1883.

Application filed May 7, 1883. (No model.)

1'. will whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SALVATORE J. BUZZINI, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Arms, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to breech-loading rifles and other fire-arms in which the breech is opened and closed by the operation of a lever that may also serve as a trigger-guard. This lever, which is thrown down to open the breech, has also been organized, not only to eject the exploded shell and cook the arm or rifle, but the same motion has been made to automatically move'a safety-catch to lock the trigger, whereby accidental discharge is impossible. This catch provides for the arm or rifle, when loaded, being carried and handled with perfect safety, as the arm cannot be discharged except by intentionally releasing said catch and pulling the trigger, and the catch has been so arranged behind the trigger and under the trigger-guard that although capable of being instantaneously it cannot be accidentally released. hen great rapidity of firing, however, is desirable, this safety-catch, which has required a separate operation of the finger to release it, has been an obstacle,

and it has been necessary to remove its lever in order that the arm may be discharged immediately upon closing the breech. This involves both time and labor, alike to put the safety-catch out of action as to put it again into action .when the piece is not required for such rapid firing.

One part of my invention consists in a lateral attachment to the breech-lever or combined breech-lever and trigger-guard of a hand or thumb pressure piece arranged so that when the breechlever is raised or closed said piece or device passes up into position on the side of the stock or look of the arm and tomatically controlling the safety-catch which looks the trigger, so that when the arm or piece is required for rapid firing the closing of the breech-lever automatically releases the eat-ch from the trigger, and when such rapid firing is not required, then said adjustable device or attachment may be set so that it does not re lease the 'safetyca tch, but leaves it in position to be separately operated upon, as heretofore, by the finger.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 represents a side view of a Sharps rifle, in part, with my invention applied, and representing the breech-lever as raised and breech as closed, showing, also, by full and dotted lines, the device for automatically releasing the safety-catch when adjusted in and out of action. Fig. 2 is a partial sectional side view of like parts, showing, by full and dotted lines, the breech-lever as thrown down and in the act of being closed, and with the automatic device for releasing the safety-catch in position for operating 011 said catch. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan or under view of like parts in the position they are represented in Fig. 1.

A is the receiver of what is known as a Sharps breech-loading rifle, B, its breech slide or block, and B the forearm.

C is the barrel, and D the butt.

E is the breech-lever, arranged to also operate as a trigger-guard, and pivoted at I), also having connected with it, or controlling the shell, extractor F, and cocking the rifle in the usual or any suitable manner, G being the trigger, and 0 its connection.

H is the sliding safety-catch, arranged on the under side of the arm under the cover of the breech-lever E when closed, and I is the lever by which, when the breech-lever is thrown down, as in Fig. 2, engages with the trigger and looks it, as shown in said figure, as heretofore customary.

The construction, so far as-described, is the same as in other rifles of the description herein more particularly referred to.

Attached to the breech-lever E, as an outwardly or upwardly bent and lateral projection from it, and which may connect, as a brace, the forward and rear portions of said lever, is a hand or thumb pressure piece or device, M, which, when the breech-lever is raised or closed, passes up into position on the side of the stock or look of the rifle, and stands laterally out therefrom abovethe main or bent portion of the breech-lever, and preferably inclining downward on its top face in a forward direction. This hand or thumb pressure attachment M, which may be broad or flat on its upper face, forms a much readier means for the rifleman to manipulate the breech-lever than by applying the finger or thumb beneath the rifle to said lever direct, and will greatly facilitate rapid firing, inasmuch as to throw down the breechlever he can much more conveniently apply his thumb to or strike with the ball of his hand safety-catch H from its lock or hold on the trigger G, to provide for rapid firing of the arm or piece. This safety-catch-releasing device consists of an arm or toe arranged to proj eet from the breech-lever E in such relation and so shaped that when adjusted for the pur pose, as shown by full lines in Fig. 1, and by full and dotted lines in Fig. 2, it will bear against and force the safety-catch H out of lock with the trigger G when the breech-lever 'E is raised or closed; but when such rapid firing is not needed, then the automatic device N may be adjusted out of action, or so that it has no releasing effect upon the safety-catch, which may then be released by the finger especially applied to it, as heretofore. This adjustment of the automatic device N, to put it position represented for itby full lines in Fig.

1, or in the position shown for it by dotted lines in the same figure, in which latter position it is out of action.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In breech-loading fire-arms in which the breech is opened by the lowering of the breecl1- lever, a breech-operating lever constructed or provided with a lateral hand or thumb pressure piece, arranged so that when said lever is raised or closed said pressure-piece will pro ject from or beyond the side of the arm, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. The combination, with the raising and lowering breech-lever E, arranged to operate from beneath the arm, of the hand or thumb pressure piece M, arranged-to connect and brace opposite ends of said lever and to project upward or outward and laterally from it and beyond or outside the side of the arm, essentially as shown and described.

3. In a fire-arm, the combination, with the breech-lever, the trigger, and a safety-catch for locking the trigger, arranged to admit of its release by finger from the exterior of the firearm, of an arm or projection on the outer or exposed portion of said lever in adjustable relation with the catch for releasing said catch from or for leaving it in look with the trigger as said lever is closed, as and for the purpose specified.

SALVATORE J. BUZZINI.

Witnesses:

EDGAR TATE, ALFRED HOLOOMBE DAvIs. 

